System and process for persistent marking of flexo plates and plates marked therewith

Abstract

Systems and processes for making a flexo plate, and plates made thereby. Non-printing indicia defined by areas of presence and absence of polymer in the plate floor created using microdots imaged during a LAMS layer imaging step are readable downstream of the washing or other non-cured-polymer-removal step but not to print in the printing step. The non-printing indicia may define a repeating pattern of alphanumeric characters, non-text graphics, or a combination thereof. A difference in growth of plate structures corresponding to different types of microdots may be used for characterizing processing conditions.

Description

[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of PCT Application Ser. No. PCT / EP19 / 052536, filed 1 Feb. 2019, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 653,972, filed 6 Apr. 2018, both titled “METHOD FOR PERSISTENT MARKING OF FLEXO PLATES WITH WORKFLOW INFORMATION AND PLATES MARKED THEREWITH,” the contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Most contemporary raster image processing (RIP) software, such as, for example, the RIP available with ESKO Automation Engine software, sold by Esko Software BVBA of Ghent, Belgium, allows creation of Barcodes or QR-codes, which can be added to the image information on a flexographic printing plate. However, the possibilities of this feature are typically not fully utilized.[0003]A typical flexo plate workflow may comprise the following steps:[0004]1. Processing image information, using a raster image processor, at a certain screen ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent text describes a system where processing equipment is provided with a scanner or reader to get information about the plates they are processing. This information is used to set the parameters for the processing step. The reader can be a mobile device like a phone or a computer. The connection between the reader and the controller can be wired or wireless. The controller translates the information from the reader into the information needed to set the parameters. The indicia, which may be a code like a QR or barcode, can contain information like a process identifier or a unique plate identifier. This unique identifier can be used to track the plate or identify it with a mobile device. The technical effect of this system is to streamline the processing workflow, make it easier to set the parameters, and improve production efficiency.

Problems solved by technology

However, the possibilities of this feature are typically not fully utilized.

Consequently, the use of workflow markings, if used at all, is typically limited to only general information, because attaching equipment-specific parameters to a plate that may be processed on different devices with different parameter settings may not be efficient or useful.

Consequently, human errors may cause a certain percentage of failure, resulting in plate loss, rework and loss of money.

One limitation of prior art marking methods for flexo plates is that they typically only contain a small amount of information that does not support the entire plate workflow.

Images